Women’s rights have been “set on fire” in Scotland, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay told a parliamentary debate about single-sex spaces held on the same day former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced she was bowing out as an MSP.
Seeking to allow self-ID for those as young as 16, the gender recognition bill was initially introduced by Sturgeon and backed by subsequent first ministers Humza Yousaf and John Swinney.
‘Divisive Self-ID Policy’
“At every level, from the top of the government, to our NHS, councils, policing, and schools, women’s rights have been set on fire,” Findlay said. “Even today, after all of this has played out in public, many state agencies just don’t get it.”Referring to the case of rapist Adam Graham, who changed his name to Isla Bryson and was initially allowed into a women’s prison before a huge public backlash saw his removal, Findlay said, “When Nicola Sturgeon was unable to answer whether Bryson was a man or a woman, the game was up.”
The West Scotland MSP urged the SNP to back his party’s motion, telling Sturgeon that voting for his party could be the “first step to rehabilitating her record and legacy.”
Findlay added, “Now that Nicola Sturgeon is finally stepping down from Parliament, John Swinney must stop her divisive self-ID policy and order public bodies to respect and protect women’s legal rights to single-sex spaces.”
The nationalist party gave no indication of a change of policy during the debate, with Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville saying, “The Scottish Government stands firmly behind the Equality Act 2010.”
She added “The Scottish Government has always sought to debate this topic with sensitivity and compassion, based on evidence and the rule of law,” but did not address the conflict of interest contained in the UK-wide Equality Act between women’s rights and the rights of those who have legally changed gender.
‘Deeply Damaging’
The Scottish Greens maintained their backing of the SNP on the issue, with the party’s equalities spokeswoman Maggie Chapman describing the debate itself as “deeply damaging.”Chapman said the wording and tone of Findlay’s motion “threatens the rights and well-being of all women, cis as well as trans,” adding: ”The Tories are wrong, they are deeply, tragically, and bitterly wrong. This motion is wrong, morally, legally, and practically.
She drew heckles from members of the packed public gallery for her repeated use of the word “cis,” but continued: “This motion, disguised as policy, represents collective punishment of trans women, of trans men, of non-binary people, of intersex people, of women who are too tall or too broad, who have the wrong voices or the wrong clothes, hair in the wrong places, or not enough of it. Anyone, in short, who does not slot into their neat little boxes.”
Ash Regan, who defected from the SNP to the Alba Party over the government’s policies around gender, said that Scotland’s public bodies could be breaking the law on single-sex spaces.
‘Pernicious’ Gender Ideology
Findlay widened the debate to what he termed the “promotion of gender ideology” throughout Scotland’s institutions, saying that this has been allowed “because self-styled political progressives on the left are, in fact, deeply regressive, sacrificing women’s rights on the altar of their beliefs. The imposition of gender ideology thinking in schools is the most insidious part of it.”MSPs voted by 57 votes to 50 with seven abstentions for an amendment to defeat the Conservative motion and instead stated that “the Scottish Government fully upholds the Equality Act 2010, and requires all public bodies to comply with the law.”
Sturgeon addressed reporters ahead of her appearance at the Scottish Parliament, saying, “I think we all should ask ourselves what more we could have done to stop this debate descending into the state it is in just now.”
She added: “I think, and it is just my opinion, we will reach a point, I don’t know how long in the future it will be, I hope it is sooner rather than later, that we look back and feel a sense of collective shame at the vilification of trans people, one of the most stigmatised, discriminated against groups in our society.”
Sturgeon Heckled
Last Saturday’s event saw a protest by For Women Scotland, which last year brought legal action against the Scottish Government over the definition of a woman, with Sturgeon greeted by chants of “shame on you!”Sturgeon shared a letter to local SNP members in which she said she would not seek reelection in social media post, writing: “I have known in my heart for a while that the time is right for me to embrace different opportunities in a new chapter of my life, and to allow you to select a new standard bearer.”
Her letter added, “To SNP members across the country: I may be leaving Parliament, but I will be by your side every step of the way as we complete our journey to independence.”
Sturgeon was the longest serving first minister in Scottish history, holding the top job since taking over from her former mentor Alex Salmond following the loss of the independence referendum in 2014.
Within months of stepping down as first minister in 2023, her husband—former SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell—was arrested in relation to a police probe into the party’s finances. He was later rearrested and charged in connection with the alleged embezzlement of funds.
Sturgeon was arrested months later as part of the same investigation, alongside former party treasurer Colin Beattie.
Sturgeon and Murrell were released without charge pending further inquiries, and announced they had decided to end their marriage earlier this year.
